Children with disabilities have rights to an assessment under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. This replaces the right to an assessment under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989. The local authority then has a duty to provide any services necessary to meet their needs.

What is an assessment?

An assessment allows the social services department to collect information about your child and your family and to identify any needs for support that you may have. The assessment is carried out by a social worker who will need to meet with you and your child. The social worker will usually visit your house, so you do not have to worry about taking your child to an unfamiliar environment. They must see your child in order to assess their needs but they may not need to be present for the whole assessment.

How do I ask for an assessment?

Under the new legislation your local authority must have an information, advice and assistance service and it will usually be this service that you contact to request an assessment.

The service is likely to work like a call centre. The person who answers the phone will not necessarily know much about autism and they may not understand the urgency of your situation.

You can also write to request an assessment, a Google search will usually produce a postal address for your local social services department. You can use our template letter. Be sure to delete any statements whcih do not apply to your child. 

Make sure you keep a copy of any letters or emails exchanged between you and your local authority in a safe place. If you have any problems, the correspondence will make it easier to sort them out.

Some local authorities may have an online form that you can complete to request a needs assessment.

Assessments for children must be completed within 42 working days from when the referral was made. If you, or someone on your behalf such as your child’s school, has made a request for an assessment and you haven’t had a reply from social services within four to six weeks then you should contact them to find out what is happening.

If your situation is urgent and your child is at risk or neglect or abuse then care and support can be provided without the need for an assessment.

What will the assessment cover and how will it be carried out?

Government guidance on assessing states that the assessment should be proportionate to your child’s needs. Under the Act your child will have received an assessment if you contact your local authority and are signposted to preventative or community-based services. Not every child will need a full in-depth assessment.

Assessment should take account of three domains:
•    the child’s developmental needs
•    the parents' or caregivers' capacities to respond appropriately
•    the wider family and environmental factors.
 
These are explained in more detail in the Code of Practice (annex 2): government publications.

All local authorities use slightly different methods of assessment, so it’s hard to predict exactly what questions they will ask.
However, the Act introduces five key elements that must be considered during an assessment. This requires a local authority to:

• assess and have regard to your family’s circumstances
• have regard to your child’s personal outcomes (see below)
• assess and have regard to any barriers to achieving those outcomes
• assess and have regard to any risks to your child or to other persons if those outcomes are not achieved
• assess and have regard to your child’s strengths and capabilities.
   

Personal outcomes

The Welsh Government has issued a well-being statement for people who need care assessment of their needs and making decisions, in particular when thinking about the things they want to be able to achieve (their personal outcomes).

They particularly need to consider the following:

• physical and mental health and emotional well-being
• physical, intellectual, emotional, social and behavioural development
• protection from abuse and neglect
• education, training and recreation
• domestic, family and personal relationships
• contribution made to society
• securing rights and entitlements
• social and economic well-being
• suitability of living accommodation.
   

Determining eligibility and how social services works this out

The 'needs assessment' will determine what support your child or young person needs. Having an assessment of needs does not mean that your child will automatically receive support.

An assessment will conclude with one of the following:

• there are no needs to be met
• a more comprehensive assessment is required, which may include more specialist assessments
• needs can be met through the provision of information, advice or assistance
• needs can be met through the provision of preventative services
• needs can be met, wholly or in part, by your child or you or any other person playing a parental role (with or without the assistance of others)
• other matters can contribute to the achievement of the personal outcomes, or otherwise meet the needs
• needs can only be met through a care and support plan, or a support plan (an eligible need)
• the local authority considers it necessary to meet the needs in order to protect the child from abuse, neglect or other harm or a risk of abuse or neglect or other harm.

Social services use eligibility criteria from the Social Services & Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 to work out who they will give care and support to. For the first time an eligibility level that is the same across Wales has been introduced. This means that if your child or young person has a certain level of needs they will be eligible for support no matter which local authority in Wales you live in.

Summary of eligibility criteria

To be eligible for support from social services the following must be the case:

1.    Either:
 
(i)    the need arises from the child’s physical or mental ill-health, age, disability, dependence on alcohol or drugs, or other similar circumstances; or
(ii)    the need is one that if unmet is likely to have an adverse effect on the child’s development

2.    The need relates to a set of standard tasks (regs 3, 4 and 5):

(i)    ability to carry out self-care or domestic routines; (see below for definition of ‘self-care’)

(ii)    ability to communicate

(iii)    protection from abuse or neglect

(iv)    involvement in work, education, learning or in leisure activities

(v)    maintenance or development of family or other significant personal relationships

(vi)    development and maintenance of social relationships and involvement in the community; or

(vii)    achieving developmental goals.

'self-care' is defined as 'tasks that a person carries out as part of daily life including'

(i)    eating and drinking

(ii)    maintaining personal hygiene

(iii)    getting up and getting dressed

(iv)    moving around the home

(v)    preparing meals

(vi)    keeping the home clean, safe and hygienic

3.    The need is one that neither the child, the child’s parents nor other persons in a parental role are able to meet, either:

(i)    alone or together

(ii)    with the care and support of others who are willing to provide that care and support, or

(iii)    with the assistance of services in the community to which the child, the parents or other persons in a parental role have access
 
4.    He/she is unlikely to achieve one or more of the personal outcomes unless the local authority provides or arranges care and support to meet the need. This can include providing a Direct Payment.

Your child’s personal outcomes will relate to the standard tasks above and the well-being statement, the LA will not have a duty to meet needs that are related to activities that they cannot support such as access to health care, housing or education.

The code of practice specifically states that you do not have to prove that your child’s outcomes cannot be achieved through services in the community before they are found eligible for support.

An example of this may be when it is suggested that your child or young person’s need for social opportunities could be met through a local youth group. You do not have to force your child to attend to prove that it would be too stressful for them to access this service.
 

What happens if my child is not eligible?

If your child or young person’s needs do not meet the eligibility criteria, you will not receive care and support services. Social services has a duty to write to you and let you know if the outcome of your child’s needs assessment is that you aren’t eligible for services and explain why.

If the outcome of the needs assessment is that your child isn't eligible for ongoing support you should be told how to access preventative support services, such as befriending or social groups. You may be referred to the information, advice and assistance service or you may be referred directly to a community-based service. If your child or young person is not eligible for ongoing care and support from social services and are not clearly signposted, you should ask about this. The LA must record how their presenting needs will be met by preventative and community based services.

If social services assesses that your child or young person is not eligible for care and support services you have the right to put in a formal complaint. In this complaint you can state why you feel that their needs meet the eligibility criteria. You may wish to use the eligibility criteria listed above in the section ‘summary of eligibility criteria’ to state what their needs are and why their personal outcomes can only be achieved with the support from the local authority.
 

The support plan

If your child or young person is found to be eligible for services, social services should develop a care and support plan (sometimes just called a care plan) with you. You must be assigned a named individual who will co-ordinate the preparation, completion, review, delivery and revision of the plan. This may be the same person who completed the assessment.

The support plan must include the following information:

• the outcomes which have been identified
• the actions to be taken by the local authority and other persons to help your child achieve those outcomes
• the needs that will be met through the delivery of care and support
• how progress towards achieving those outcomes will be monitored and measured
• the date of the next review of the care plan.

If it is appropriate the plan should also set out:

• the roles and responsibilities of your child, their carers and family members, and practitioners
• the resources (including financial resources) required from each person.
   

How soon can I expect services to be provided?

When the needs assessment has been completed you should ask your social worker or community care officer how soon the services your child needs will be provided. If they have been assessed as needing a servic, then the local authority is legally bound to provide this. Sometimes you may have to wait a short time for services to become available.
 

Reviewing support

Social services have a duty to review the care and support plan and the services that are being offered at least once every six months to make sure that the plan still meet your child or young person’s needs and that their needs haven’t changed. This is sometimes called a review meeting.

They should also review if significant changes take place or if the plan is no longer meeting your child or young person’s needs. If you ask for your child's care and support plan to be reviewed, social services should agree as long as the request is reasonable. An example of the request not being reasonable would be if you had very recently had your care and support plan reviewed and your support needs have not changed since then.

Social services is not allowed to use the review with an aim to reducing support for no reason or to save money.